The complete guide to virtual reality - everything you need to get started

The complete guide to virtual reality - everything you need to get started

There are a growing number of virtual reality headsets and apps to explore. Photograph: Mark Blinch/Reuters

Until recently, virtual reality had been something of a fantasy for storytellers and technologists. As long ago as 1935, American science fiction writer Stanley G Weinbaum described something like virtual reality in a short story called Pygmalion’s Spectacles.

“But listen – a movie that gives one sight and sound. Suppose now I add taste, smell, even touch, if your interest is taken by the story. Suppose I make it so that you are in the story, you speak to the shadows, and the shadows reply, and instead of being on a screen, the story is all about you, and you are in it. Would that be to make real a dream?”

Technologists might still be working on smell and taste, but Albert Ludwig’s “magic spectacles” eerily foreshadow the current prominence for headsets and 360-degree games, videos and virtual worlds.

Since Ludwig’s magic spectacles found their way into print, there have been decades of experimentation around virtual reality, from the first head-mounted VR system in the late 1960s to the first commercial products in the 1980s – not to mention Hollywood’s interpretation in the1992 film The Lawnmower Man, which shaped mainstream perceptions of virtual reality, or VR, for some time afterwards.

The current age of virtual reality began in 2010, when American teenager Palmer Luckey created the first prototype of a VR headset that would evolve into the Oculus Rift. Two years later, he launched a $250,000 Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to commercialise it – and $2.4m of pledges later, the tech industry’s interest in VR was reborn. Two years after that, Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, liked the Rift so much he bought the company for $2bn

Several competitors have emerged since then, from the HTC Vive and Sony’s PlayStation VR to smartphone-powered headsets such as Samsung’s Gear VR and Google Cardboard. Meanwhile, hundreds of developers are making VR games and apps, film-makers are exploring the potential for documentaries and animation, and Facebook and YouTube have jumped on the bandwagon with 360-degree videos.

But if you’re new to virtual reality, where should you start? In the absence of a passing professor with magic specs, here’s everything you need to know about hardware, apps and games.

The basics

The most important piece of a virtual reality kit is the headset, a device like a thick pair of goggles that goes over your eyes. The more expensive, higher quality headsets need to be connected to a computer to run apps and games, while some cheaper ones use a cellphone clipped to the front of the headset.

All headsets need to be used alongside a good quality pair of headphones, and there are other optional accessories from hand controllers to treadmills that are all designed to enhance your simulated experience of being in another world. Hand controllers translate your real-world gestures into whatever game or application you’re using, although standard gaming joypads can also be used.

VR devices have their own app stores, similar to smartphone app stores, where you can browse and download games and apps. Some of these stores are accessed using the device itself, while others – the VR section of the Steam digital games store, for example – can be browsed on your computer.

High-end headsets

Oculus Rift

Four years after its first crowdfunding campaign, the first commercial version of Oculus Rift launched in early 2016, sold initially from the Oculus VR website and gradually made its way to retailers around the world.

Until now, you needed a powerful PC to use the Oculus Rift. The minimum specs for an Oculus Ready PC are on the official website, with Dell, HP, Alienware and Asus all offering VR-ready machines. Oculus VR has also launched bundles of Rift with a PC, such as the $2,050 Alienware bundle.

That said, Oculus has just announced that thanks to some technology it has dubbed “asynchronous spacewarp”, the Rift will now work with PCs costing as little as $500.

Oculus is expanding its hardware offering, and in December Oculus will launch a dedicated Oculus Touch controller, which translates your hand gestures into the virtual environment. At $199, it’s not cheap.

Price: $599 (£549) includes the headset with built-in headphones and mic, movement sensor, remote and Xbox One controller.

You’ll also need: a powerful PC – check the recommended specs.

Best for: early adopters, and anyone keen for a first-hand view of how Facebook will make virtual reality more social.

Verdict: Oculus Rift kickstarted the newest generation of VR and has an inventive community of developers making games and apps for it – even if a few have ditched it in protest over its founder’s political activities. Facebook’s financial backing should ensure the Rift is in it for the long haul, too.

10 Oculus Rift apps and games to try

Chronos: wonderful-looking role-playing game with plenty of depth
Minecraft VR: the blocky building game suits VR well
Elite: Dangerous: epic space game gets even more epic with a headset
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes: clever multiplayer game – the headset wearer defuses a bomb while friends try to help
EVE: Valkyrie: this space dogfighter was made for VR, and it shows
The Climb: part game and part experience, this sees you climbing mountains around the world
Jaunt VR: a range of great made-for-VR videos, from documentaries to music
Henry: Oculus VR’s attempt at a Pixar-quality animated short film
Apollo 11 VR Experience: a clever historical app that sends you on the moon-landing mission
Within: a mix of bespoke fiction and nonfiction videos made for viewing in VR

The HTC Vive is a partnership between Taiwanese tech firm HTC and the games company Valve. Valve added a dedicated VR category to its existing Steam digital games store, while HTC has just launched its Viveport site for non-gaming apps.HTC’s Vive has been the most direct competitor for the Oculus Rift so far. Photograph: Chesnot/Getty Images

Vive is a direct rival to Oculus Rift, though several games and apps are available for both devices. Like the Rift, it requires a PC to run its software, and HTC helps buyers get the right kit by maintaining a list of Vive Ready computers, including partners Alienware, HP and MSI.

The Vive has some unique features, including a front-facing camera which, in certain apps, can bring the real world into your virtual environments. You also get two hand-worn gestural controllers in the box, unlike the Rift, which partly explains the higher price.

The Vive also comes with a base station that tracks your movements, so within fairly tight limits you can walk around inside your VR space. This means a longer setup process, comparable to setting up a high-end home-audio system properly rather than just bunging your stereo on a shelf – but as more apps and games use the option, it could prove to be the Vive’s killer feature.

Price: $799 (£759) includes the headset, two wireless hand-controllers, two base stations and a link box to connect it to your computer.

You’ll also need: a powerful PC – check the recommended specs.

Best for: anyone who wants the absolute top-spec (for now) home VR system, with a mix of gaming and non-gaming.

Verdict: HTC Vive is the most expensive system on the market, and also the one that takes most effort to set up. Yet once you’ve done that, the ability to walk around within your virtual space, as well as turn your head, is impressive. The involvement of Valve, with its Steam store, means there’s a big community of developers too.

After the success of Pokémon Go!, what is the future for augmented reality?
Read more10 HTC Vive apps and games to try

Job Simulator: a big word-of-mouth hit; its 2050 setting simulates jobs taken over by robots
Elite: Dangerous: epic space game gets even more epic with a headset
Cosmic Trip: gripping “first-person real-time strategy” game about colonising alien planets
The Brookhaven Experiment: survival-based horror game with plenty of monsters – and scares
Fantastic Contraption: originally a 2D machine-building puzzler, this works beautifully in 3D and VR
Tilt Brush: Google’s app is one of the early creative joys in VR: paint in the 3D space around you in a blur of neon
Jaunt VR: a great range of made-for-VR videos, from documentaries to music
Apollo 11 VR: clever historical app that puts you in the moon landing mission
theBlu: if you enjoyed the BBC’s Blue Planet, this is a must for its glorious VR ocean life
AltspaceVR: interesting attempt at social VR, updating the second life virtual world idea for current headsets

The third big gun in the VR race is Sony’s PlayStation VR headset, which launched in October 2016 as an accessory for the PlayStation 4 games console. Both the PlayStation 4 and new PlayStation 4 Pro are compatible with the headsets, but the pro will run VR games at higher screen resolutions and frame rates.

Sony is keen for PlayStation VR to be more than a solitary experience: a feature called VR Social Screen shows what you’re seeing in the headset on your TV screen, so friends can join in or watch.

Being part of the PlayStation world inevitably means that games are an even bigger focus for PlayStation VR than for Oculus Rift and Vive. Sony has more than 100 games confirmed already, with 50 of them due to arrive by the end of 2016.

You’ll also need: PlayStation Camera, which costs $45 (£39). Although you can use standard PS4 joypads for games, some will support the PlayStation Move motion controllers, which cost $99 (£70) for a twin-pack.

Best for: gamers – or PlayStation 4 gamers at least, since there’s (unsurprisingly) no cross-console compatibility with Xbox One or Nintendo’s consoles.

Verdict: as the first console-connected VR headset out of the blocks, PlayStation VR is also the most affordable high-end model even if you have to buy the PS4 to run it. There are some impressive launch titles, while Sony’s clout means there will be a strong pipeline of titles in the months and years ahead, though there may be slimmer pickings for non-game VR apps.

10 PlayStation VR apps and games to try

Rez Infinite: brilliant reboot of classic rhythm game Rez
Tumble VR: clever puzzle game that involves piling up blocks
EVE Valkyrie: this space dogfighter game was specially made for VR, and it shows
Batman: Arkham VR: crime-solving strategy with the Dark Knight
Superhypercube: “first-person puzzler” with trippy graphics
Thumper: racing, shooting and rhythm-action combine
Job Simulator: a big word-of-mouth hit; its 2050 setting simulates jobs taken over by robots
PlayStation VR Worlds: from gangsters to racing, this collection of VR mini-games shows off Sony’s VR tech
Headmaster: use your noggin to complete a series of football-heading challenges
Driveclub VR: slick racing game puts you in the cockpit of 80 motors

For a deeper dive into these games, see the Guardian’s VR apps roundup

Samsung Gear VR

With Gear VR, we’re into the category of VR headset that use your smartphone as both the screen and processor. Samsung’s headset uses technology from Oculus VR, although it isn’t as powerful as the Rift. It only works with Samsung’s S6 and S7 smartphone series, as well as the Galaxy Note7 phablet (though if you still have a Note7 put the device down and step away slowly – the phone has been the subject of an international recall after a problem with exploding batteries).

Gear VR can be bought as a standalone device, but some retailers will include one in when you buy a new Samsung smartphone so it’s worth scouting about for deals.

Games and apps are available through Samsung’s Oculus Home software, with a growing catalogue of apps, games and content. For Samsung owners, the Gear VR is an affordable way to explore virtual reality even if its graphical capabilities – and the processor of the device running its software – are less powerful than its rivals.

Price: $100 (£100) for the headset.

You’ll also need: a recent Samsung smartphone or phablet.

Best for: cost-conscious VR newcomers who don’t want to be tied to a computer or console while exploring virtual worlds and games.

Verdict: Gear VR should help grow a more mainstream audience for VR, and has a growing collection of apps and games. Its one restriction is that it can only be used with Samsung smartphones, so anyone with an iPhone or other Android handset is out of luck.

10 Gear VR apps and games to try

Land’s End: from the makers of Monument Valley, this is an eerie game of exploration
Minecraft: Gear VR: blocky building game suits VR well
Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes: clever multiplayer game – the headset wearer defuses a bomb while friends try to help
Smash Hit: inventive rhythm-puzzle game
Gunjack: sci-fi shooter that flings ships and bullets at you
NextVR: live sports and music in virtual reality
AltspaceVR: interesting attempt at social VR, updating the second life virtual world idea for current headsets
The Economist VR: intriguing virtual tours from the digitally recreated Mosul Museum to Osaka’s secrets
Jaunt VR: a great range of made-for-VR videos, from documentaries to music
Within: bespoke fiction and nonfiction videos made for VR

Cardboard was Google’s first commercial attempt at virtual reality, and yes, the headsets were made of actual cardboard.

Google made the spec for these flat-pack headsets available to other companies, which means there are 13 models from Google’s own basic $15 model to Speck’s $70 Pocket-VR with CandyShell Grip, although the latter includes a protective case for your smartphone.

There are a growing number of apps available on the Android and iOS app stores, from 360-photography to games and documentaries. While not as powerful as more expensive headsets, there is some exciting experimentation going on here.

Google’s follow-up to Cardboard, Daydream, was announced in May 2016. Its software will be built into the new Android smartphones (it is part of Nougat, the latest version of Android) as well as hardware, in the form of headsets and handheld controllers. Google’s headset, the Daydream View, is made of fabric rather than cardboard, and comes with a motion controller used to translate your gestures into apps and games.

Google services such as YouTube, Street View and Photos will all support Daydream headsets, and launch partners include Netflix, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Guardian, JK Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts and Major League Baseball who will all provide apps. The Guardian’s offering, Underworld, explores London’s subterranean web of Victorian sewers and lost waterways in the shoes of an urban explorer.

Price: Google Cardboard headsets vary in price, but most are $15-$25 (£15-£25). Daydream View costs $79 (£69), including a controller.

You’ll also need: a smartphone – Cardboard headsets and apps support a wide range of Android phones and iPhones. Daydream View is more restricted: at launch it will work with Google’s new Pixel smartphones, but a range of Daydream-supporting Android phones will come out over the next year.

Best for: getting started with VR cheaply and easily, particularly for non-Samsung owners.

Verdict: Daydream View will offer strong competition for the Gear VR. Cardboard is excellent for dabblers, and while some of its apps are fairly limited experiences, others offer plenty to see, do and play.

10 Google Cardboard apps and games to try

Cardboard: Google’s own collection of VR demos for Cardboard is a great place to start
Bohemian Rhapsody Experience: Google teamed up with Queen for this fun VR music video
NYT VR: the New York Times’ take on VR with video news reports
Star Wars: the film’s official app includes the story of Jakku Spy
Sisters: one of the scariest VR horror apps
Inside Abbey Road: virtual tour of London’s famous Abbey Road Studios
Cardboard Camera: shoot 360-degree photos with sound on your smartphone, then relive them in your headset
YouTube: the standard YouTube app, but you can watch its 360 and VR videos come to life through Cardboard
InMind VR: clever medical arcade adventure lets you travel into a patient’s brain
6x9: the Guardian’s compelling exploration of the psychological damage caused by solitary confinement

Microsoft in the wings

As well as working on the augmented-reality headset HoloLens, Microsoft is working with hardware partners to make a range of headsets for Windows PCs, starting at $299 when they go on sale in the spring of 2017.

“We’re really thinking how are we going to democratise this technology, how are we going to work with these partners to build devices that can reach all price points, that can reach everyone on the planet,” Microsoft’s Terry Myserson told ZDNet. “One way you can think about these VR accessories is as an external monitor. It’s not technically accurate, but conceptually I think it works quite well. You put on the headset and you’re looking at another monitor.”

Accessories

A slew of other virtual reality products are coming on to the market beyond the big-name headsets. The early success of Oculus Rift on Kickstarter has made the crowdfunding site a focus for VR startups touting interesting hardware.

From headsets (Impression Pi, ANTVR, Cmoar, Opto, FOVE) to controllers (STEM System, Control VR, Gloveone, iMotion) there are plenty of projects to explore, although be warned – the Oculus, HTC, Sony and Samsung devices receive the lion’s share of attention, so you’ll need to research developer support for each device to work out if it’s compatible with your system before committing your cash.

There is also the OSVR project by gaming hardware company Razer, which is trying to create open standards around VR so that people can mix and match different headsets and accessories. For now, there are two versions of its prototype hacker development kit available to buy, although Razer is hoping manufacturers will use its standards to make their own headsets.

How do you film VR?

The cameras and editing software needed to film and then knit together VR footage involve a whole other level of complexity and expense. At $45,000, Nokia’s OZO camera is out of most people’s price range but is a good example of the kind of kit that professional film-makers are using.

Samsung’s Gear 360 is a more affordable VR camera. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian

More affordable is Samsung’s Gear 360 spherical camera, which costs $350, and which has front and rear lenses to capture 180-degree shots both horizontally and vertically to create panoramic video or photo. It’s still an expensive gadget for an average person, but if you want to explore making your own VR videos, it’s a good starting point.

Pokémon Go is the most popular current app using AR technology. Photograph: Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty Images

360 vs virtual reality

The terms “360” and “virtual reality” are often used interchangeably, but there are important differences. The 360-degree photos and videos are panoramic pics and videos that have been stitched together, so you can turn your head to look around you. But these aren’t virtual worlds: you don’t have free movement to explore them as you do in full virtual reality experiences.

All VR devices offer a mixture of both, however: you can watch 360 videos or explore virtual worlds with Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard.

There are other headsets that let you experience digital wizardry but offer a different experience called augmented reality.

While virtual reality is about immersing you in an entirely virtual world, viewed through a screen in your headset, the real world outside you isn’t part of the experience – at least not until you trip over the cat or accidentally knock out your child while immersed elsewhere. But augmented reality, as the name suggests, is about augmenting or adding to reality reality. You might be looking at your cat or up your street, but there could be digital characters and content overlaid on them.

Glass, the hi-tech spectacles launched by Google in 2014, were an AR device, but the company has given up on trying to sell them as a mainstream idea. More hardware is on the way, however: Microsoft’s HoloLens will be the augmented reality equivalent of PlayStation VR and with a similar emphasis on gaming; the popular Minecraft has been one of the key demos for it.

Meanwhile, a Florida-based startup called Magic Leap has raised an astonishing $1.4bn in funding for its AR headset and technology, giving only a few teasers on what it looks like and how it will work.

For now, the most affordable way to try augmented reality is through smartphone apps, which overlay text and graphics on the feed from the camera. The game Pokémon Go and the face-mangling lenses in Snapchat both use augmented reality. Others are more specific: the DFS Sofa and Room Planner (see how a new sofa might look in your living room), Plane Finder AR (see where that plane overhead is going by pointing your camera at it) and Mardles (make 3D characters jump out of stickers for kids).

Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, sees VR as a social technology, not just a gaming one. Photograph: Stephen Lam/Reuters

Virtual reality beyond gaming

Games loom large in modern-day VR, partly because the original Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR headsets were made primarily for gamers, and also because games are the most easily understandable entertainment category to show off this technology. But as Mark Zuckerberg explained after announcing Facebook was buying Oculus VR, there’s a lot more to this than just games.

“This is just the start. After games, we’re going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a courtside seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face to face – just by putting on goggles in your home,” wrote Zuckerberg.

“This is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.”

Journalism and film-making

Hundreds of developers are working on VR games, but there is lots of activity around other kinds of entertainment and media too. Journalists, film-makers and a growing number of documentary-makers are using 360-degree cameras to find new angles on stories, if you’ll pardon the pun.

Film-maker Chris Milk set up his virtual reality company in 2014 to produce and distribute VR documentaries, and offers films shot in New York, Cuba and even Syria. “I’m not interested in the novelty factor,” Milk told the Guardian in 2015. “I’m interested in the foundations for a medium that could be more powerful than cinema, than theatre, than literature, than any other medium we’ve had before to connect one human being to another.”

Traditional media companies have also experimented with VR journalism, from the New York Times VR films to the Guardian’s 6x9 project, which explores solitary confinement. As the cost of shooting and editing VR footage comes down, expect to see more media companies exploring the potential.

A screenshot from Within’s VR app.

Social media

When Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook was to buy Oculus, he said that virtual reality could be the next big social platform and connect more than a billion people. That seems a contradiction when the current version of software being created for these headsets is focused on solo experiences while wearing a device that isolates you from the people around you.

Yet some companies are trying to make VR more social. Oculus has launched “Social Beta” software that enables people to watch online video services Twitch and Vimeo in a virtual cinema with other people. It has also shown off Toybox, a prototype virtual toy-room where two people can interact with a range of objects together.

Tech startups are exploring social VR too. AltspaceVR wants people to “be together in a more natural way than a phone call, text or video chat” by creating avatars and wandering around its virtual worlds, and is available for some headsets already. Its rival vTime is available for Gear VR, Oculus Rift and Google Cardboard, styling itself as a “sociable network” for people to meet up for avatar-based chat.

Sports and music

Would you watch a football match or music concert in a virtual world? A number of companies hope so, and are busy building the technology.

NextVR is focusing on sport and entertainment, and has already worked on the US Open tennis tournament and several boxing matches, as well as a live Coldplay gig. It is preparing to produce a series of music concerts with live promoter Live Nation.

Another company, Voke, is working with stars including Ricky Martin and Marc Anthony, while LiveLike wants to broadcast sports matches in VR for friends to watch together while chatting. British broadcaster Sky recently launched a Google Cardboard app, which includes a sports show fronted by David Beckham alongside news reports and videos from Disney and Star Wars.

Tourism

One of the key selling points for VR technology is its ability to put you in places you’re unlikely to visit in the flesh, whether too expensive, too dangerous, out of bounds because of mobility issues or just because you don’t like flying.

You can already use VR to climb Everest, explore the Grand Canyon, take a gondola ride in Venice and watch a range of startling 360-degree videos published by wearable-cameras firm GoPro from around the world. Looking even further afield, Mars 2030 will let you wander around the surface of Mars.

Oculus VR sees the potential in virtual travel. “There’s clearly value in real-world experiences: going to do things. That’s why we have field trips. The problem is that the majority of people will never be able to do the majority of those experiences,” claimed its founder Palmer Luckey in 2015.

“People could say: ‘But visiting France virtually will never be the same as visiting Paris in the real world.’ Well, it might not be the same. What matters a lot more is that everybody is able to experience it.”

Medical and therapeutic

Virtual reality technology is also being explored by the healthcare industry. Medical Realities is a company using VR, AR and games to train medical students, with its Virtual Surgeon programme enabling them to experience operations from the surgeon’s perspective. The company live-streamed an operation earlier this year to test its tech. Osso VR, meanwhile, has developed surgery simulation for trainees, which works with Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.

The Los Angeles Cedars-Sinai hospital is also exploring whether VR can have therapeutic value, helping patients relax by flying above Iceland in a helicopter or swimming with whales, while MindMaze is making VR software that could play a role in the rehabilitation of stroke, spinal-cord injury and amputee patients.

Adult entertainment

Well, this was inevitable. Porn producers are famous early adopters of new audio/visual technology, and that trend has continued into VR. From point-of-view videos to animated sex simulations – and even a dedicated VR category on popular site PornHub – if there’s money to be made from virtual reality, chances are the adult-entertainment industry will find it first. Even if the results are “cold, silly, downright terrifying” for some viewers.

What next?

As a technology, virtual reality already has decades of experimentation (and hype) behind it, even if it is still early days for this latest generation of devices. That means you can expect the technology to improve rapidly, while the first few waves of apps and games are still figuring out how to make the most of it.

There’s a good argument for waiting until the technology, and the content created for it, is more established, more compelling and cheaper. But equally, there’s delight to be had in being one of the first to explore a whole new virtual world of entertainment, information and communication, as thousands of developers, games designers and film-makers explore the medium and its new creative potential.

Whether you’re an enthusiast, a sceptic, or somewhere in the middle, 2017 is going to be a big year in figuring out the real potential for this technology. When your grandkids ask where you were virtual reality took off, what will you say?